2023-06-06 10:28:02
ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta city council approved funding Tuesday for the construction of a training center for police and firefighters, rejecting calls from hundreds of activists who packed City Hall and spoke for hours in staunch opposition to a project they call “Cop City”.
The vote, which went ahead 11 to 4, is an important victory for Mayor Andre Dickens, who made the $90 million project a major part of his first term, despite significant opposition it generated. The decentralized movement “Stop Cop City” has brought together protesters from all over the country, especially following the death by police shooting of Manuel Paez Terán, a 26-year-old activist nicknamed “Tortuguita” who had camped in the woods near the location of the building. in DeKalb County.
For regarding 14 hours, residents took the stage to denounce the project, pointing out that the construction of the massive building in a large urban forest in a poor, majority-black area would be a serious misappropriation of public funds.
“We are here to make our case before a government that has been indifferent, if not hostile, to a movement unprecedented in the history of our city council,” said Matthew Johnson, executive director of Beloved Community Ministries, a local social justice NGO. “We are here to stop environmental racism and the militarization of the police (…) We have to go back to covering basic needs instead of using the police as the only solution to all our social problems.”
The center was approved by the city council in September 2021 but an additional vote was needed to get more funding. City officials say the new 85-acre facility would replace an inadequate training center and help address difficulties recruiting and retaining police officers, which have been exacerbated by national protests once morest police brutality and the racial injustice of three years ago.
But opponents, joined by activists from across the country, fear it will lead to further militarization of the police and that its construction will exacerbate environmental damage. Protesters had been camped out in the area for at least last year, and police alleged that they caused damage and assaulted officers and others.
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